We Condemn the President’s Words Today

GLAD statement on President Trump doubling down on hate and defending white supremacists in Virginia

We are outraged by Donald Trump’s remarks today defending the white supremacists who gathered in Virginia over the weekend in a violent rally that took the life of one woman and injured twenty other people. In doubling down on his attempt to blame “many sides” for the hate-motivated violence, the President has given his stamp of approval to those who incited it.

To be clear: for the vast majority of Americans who vehemently denounce white supremacy, anti-Semitism, and racism, the President’s words today hold no moral authority. They do not represent the view or values of most Americans.

But his words do represent – and embolden – a small but dangerous faction in American society that persists to this day. In doing so he has made explicit what we have known all along: that his presidency is tainted, and his administration is infested, by white supremacist sympathies.

We condemn the President’s words today in no uncertain terms. It is time for every American of good will to speak out, powerfully and repeatedly, against the normalization of this dangerous ideology being condoned by our nation’s president, and demand that our elected officials at every level do the same.